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A research harbor dedicated to mapping the waters of the Old World, the Ronin Expedition swiftly became a smuggler's paradise, filled with the drinks and fruit of Czarina, the drugs of Saraswati, the entertainment of J.A.V and the weapons of Soon-Bok. Many adventurers make The Ronin Expedition their home away from home, among the drunken pirates and mischievous Wukong conclaves that litter the peninsula.
The Ronin Expedition began in the last days of the Genewars, and the earliest days of the corporate takeover. An apparent group of philanthropists sprung up, claiming utter abhorrence of what their compatriots were doing, and sought a better way (in truth, they simply lacked the singular resources themselves to even THINK about affording the necessary assets to get into orbit, and lacked the necessary connections and backing to get in early on the megacity schemes, and so found another way to riches). They pooled their funds, and bought out one of the islands in the north pacific chain, including the military naval and genetics facilities. These facilities were partially devoted to the Forced Biodiversity Program, and partially towards various super soldier programs, but all of them were repurposed towards personal enhancement therapies.
The Ronin Expedition leaders headhunted the best and brightest they could find, and who had the moral core to not be bought out by the nigh-infinite funding of the rival megacorps. These people became the core of the Ronin Expedition, a group founded to begin forays into more southerly latitudes. The early forays into portions of abandoned Japan went well enough, securing vital data in the realms of computing and automation allowed them to sell those for further funding to the nascent megacorps, securing themselves a place at the table, and giving them hope that perhaps they could achieve their proper goals of finding abandoned technologies that would reverse the climate change, or at least soften the impending corporate slavery.
Over the next few years, they had less success. The genewars guttered out, and the abandoned Forced Biodiversity Program facilities began to malfunction and breakdown. Refugees fleeing the horrors of the failing bunker network added yet more woes, and the island chain that the Ronin Expedition had picked as it's base of operations began to be faced with more and more violent and terrible monstrosities. The first Kaiju appeared from those islands, as did other terrible monsters. In an attempt to save itself, the Ronin Expedition loosened its ethical standards for mercenary hires, but quickly found itself burning through money faster than it was earning it, especially as none of the expeditions it launched seemed to be returning with anything of value.
This changed with the discovery of an ancient, almost totally intact cargo vessel, laden down with media files from the old world, lost for decades now but still fresh enough to have nostalgic value. The sales of those items and files by the desperate expedition not only paid for itself a dozen times over, allowing for the hiring of new mercenaries, but attracted a flood of new applicants from those who wanted nothing to do with the corporate overlords of the world, and now saw the Ronin Expedition as a viable alternative to out and out banditry. These groups were applied in earnest to clear out the island chain, a not inconsiderable amount of funding going directly to the now ascendant Soon-Bok Heavy Ordnance for the military supplies necessary to begin operations, and yet more going to other megacorporations to gain necessary supplies. The Ronin Expedition swiftly expanded, using the sudden glut of resources to break down and destroy the malfunctioning birthing factories that plagued the chain of islands. The most successful bands of mercenaries earned massive amounts of money from safely recovering data and technology from those facilities, and many call this time the birth of the modern adventurer: delving into bunkers and ancient facilities to reclaim lost technologies and media for sale.
The Ronin Expedition actively encouraged this, promising placement on the primary, and insanely more profitable expeditions, to the most successful mercenaries. This worked for a time, and allowed the Ronin Expedition to swiftly claim most of the islands from J.A.V. to Slyth & Jabber, but eventually the number of placements on expeditions was full, there simply weren't GOING to be more people on them, not with the Ronin Expedition's focus on 'safe' and 'sustained' launches of those expeditions (for each failed one had an incalculable cost to replace). The mercenaries wised up, and before their efforts could be redirected towards the Tarantulina Peninsula or to what would become Hentai Island, the entire situation devolved. The majority became pirate and mercenary bands associated with the Ronin Expedition in name only, and the modern situation of a single megacorp surrounded by hundreds of fractious, rebellious pirate and criminal gangs that the Ronin Expedition is known for today was born.
The Ronin Expedition is set up into two general administrative groups. There is the Ronin Expeditionary Fleet Command, which is made up of the board of directors for Ronin Expeditions (the ancient founding documents of the company declaring that no one may own shares in the company who does not work for it), and their chief focus is upon the mapping, exploration, and exploitation of the various areas of the old world. Southern Japan, Hawaiʻi, the Silicon Valley, the Pacific Plastic Patch, and Taiwan all make up various locations of exploitation, and Fleet Command's focus is always on where the next point of exploitation will be. Their concerns are entirely focused on ensuring the smooth running of those expeditions. Fleet Command picks its own members, drawing from surviving veterans of multiple expeditions. The Fleet Commanders sit until they retire, some of them settling down on island estates to live it up in the tropics, and others 'seeking opportunities elsewhere', a euphemism most on the islands take to mean 'got killed for not playing ball', but actually means "sold their shares back to the company, used their obscene wealth to buy out shares elsewhere, and retired to the Walled Street."
The second administration group is generally called the Ronin Council, and is made up of the 'community leaders' of everyone who lives in the islands owned by the Ronin Expedition, but lack a share in the Ronin Expedition proper. These are cutthroats, smugglers, brigands, and adventurers who have a stake in the smooth running of the islands. They are a fractious bunch, arguing more than cooperating, but understand that their positions are tenuous. Acceptance to the council is only by appointment from Fleet Command, and membership on the council means being given subsidiary status, and thus protection, from the Expeditionary Fleet. To be thrown off the council is a death sentence, since it means open season has been declared on your people and assets.
The power balance is maintained by a combination of tradition, awareness that the Ronin Expedition is an aberration in the corporate-run world, and that the path to true wealth in the Ronin Expedition is by joining the expeditionary fleet. The expeditions launched are hideously dangerous, and make enough of a haul that each time massive numbers of the members retire, opening up slots. Everyone knows that the children of current and retired expedition members get first shot, but that there's ALWAYS going to be room for others. To get a share in the expedition is to be admitted to an elite brotherhood, to be acknowledged as the best and brightest of adventurers, and to have a guaranteed golden parachute even after a single expedition. The Ronin Council's membership get to decide on the shortlist of the thousands of applicants to give their recommendation too, and Fleet Command hosts the final say. Between this, and the rags-to-riches dreams of the thousands of brigands, adventurers, and pirates that live in the isles, something approaching proper order is maintained.
The Ronin Expedition occupies a chain of islands that link from Slyth & Jabber to J.A.V. Digital Entertainment, giving them a total lock on shipping in and out of the Pacific. They ruthlessly exploit this position, preventing any other large fleets from entering the waters their expeditionary fleet exploits. A few attempts have been made by nautically inclined subsidiaries of Soon-Bok, and once by a particularly ambitious pornography archeological expedition from J.A.V. In every case the expeditions failed to return, and the Ronin Expedition returned the remains their expeditionary fleet 'found' journeying where they were not equipped to go. When asked why the expeditionary fleet is so incredibly heavily armed for a supposedly 'peaceful exploration' fleet, the Ronin Expedition is famously mum.
Their major income sources are as follows:
The Ronin Expedition has special trade relations with the following Territories:
Their position should, in theory, give them a lock on trade from the south-east coasts of Soon-Bok and the south-west coasts of J.A.V., but a combination of corruption, the dangers of piracy, and the willingness to use land routes means that they are unable to force duties and fees on most of the ships that pass through, unless one counts the stolen goods taken by piracy. That said, tourism is a surprisingly large industry, though considered more of a loss leader by Fleet Command, a way of suckering in more hopefuls that build the reputation of the expedition and support the edifice from which they can earn their much desired retirements.
The racial makeup of the Ronin Expedition is one of the most mixed and cosmopolitan in the world, almost anyone can be found there.
The Ronin Expedition touts itself as being the foremost of 'free people', not beholden to corporate overlords or to the strictures of the rest of the world and the bezosphere shareholders. In truth, this is, and always has been, propaganda of the highest order. Everything in the Ronin Expedition is based around promising the 'maybe you could win too!' attitude of possibilities in owning a share in the Ronin Expedition proper (since such shares cannot disappear into the pockets of people who have escaped to the Bezosphere). In truth, the possibility of doing so is significantly higher than it is in almost any other part of the world, but only for those willing to risk life and limb and brave the literally cutthroat politics of the Ronin Council itself. Everything in the Ronin Expedition is set up to give Fleet Command (simply an executive board by another name and more scars) full control over advancement and who actually might end up getting a piece of the hyper valuable expeditionary fleet earnings pie.
It is largely considered a mark of veterancy and true citizenship in the Ronin Isles whether or not you are clued into the graft and exploitation that is daily life in the Ronin Expedition. Rookie adventurers who buy their way into the isles are often considered easy marks, sold knock off and bootleg products at a huge markup and a fraction of the quality by con artists and tourist traps. To be able to navigate the maze of cons and scams is considered the first milestone of any proper citizen of the isles. Despite this, there is a pervasive belief by most people in the 'fairness' and 'prestige' of becoming a shareholding member of the expedition proper, if only because Fleet Command, and by extension the Ronin Council, realize that the fantastic investment of resources that goes into each launch of expedition fleet requires that they actually hire the best and brightest adventurers they can afford. That said, until you actually manage to get that vaunted share in the expedition, adventurers are expected to prove themselves, to balance the willingness to accept a job for low pay but 'high prestige', to prove themselves willing to earn that placement to even test to gain a share.
This creates a ruthlessly competitive and predatory gig economy of adventurers, and a pervading sense of both dread and hopefulness across the citizens of the isles. They too could strike it big, but are they willing to sacrifice enough to do it? To work hard enough and tighten their belts enough? Some adventuring groups realize the scam for what it is and get out, or even refuse to play by those rules, and often in the process end up avoiding the death by destitution that comes to so many that try to play things the way 'they're supposed too'. A lucky few blessed with the connections and resources to survive the gig adventuring economy are held up as 'proof' that the system does work, despite such people often being born to shareholders or former shareholders themselves, and thus granted the advantages that are simply nonexistent for most who come to the isles, including front of the line access for testing when expedition fleet slots, and thus shares, open up.
At the higher levels of the expedition, it is an open (though never openly admitted too) secret, that any nobility of 'going where man has not been for centuries' and 'rediscovering lost knowledge for the betterment of the world' is simple propaganda, and that the expedition is just as profit driven as every other endeavor. The justification given is 'at least you EARNED your place here right? Not just some corpo brat?', even when many of the expeditionary fleet members are related by blood or marriage to previous members. The tacit understanding is that at least THEY are the ones pissing down instead of being pissed on, and that's just the way the world works. The expedition members all seek to watch one another's backs, knowing just how insanely dangerous life down in the burning bands can be, with mutant monstrosities, titanic kaiju, ancient warmachines, and rogue surges in addition to the simple elements can bring a swift end to any member's life. But that solidarity begins to break down once you reach the rank of expedition officer. Once there, the politicking becomes quite cut-throat, with anything that doesn't endanger the mission being considered fair game. The goal? Captaincy of one of the expedition vessels, and after that? Captaincy of the Black Ship, the flagship of the entire expeditionary fleet. Only someone who has captained the Black Ship at least once is able to join Fleet Command, and is given a share of the expedition second only to that taken by Fleet Command itself.
The Ronin Expedition's unique makeup and positioning gives it several unique features:
Almost all organizations in the Ronin Expedition relate back to the expedition proper, their various scams and grifting methods, or to adventuring in general or specific part:
Ronin Expedition towns tend to be based around the expedition docks, each of which forming a central hub for recruitment and training for the expedition, as well as a controlling influence on the piratical adventurer populace. They tend to be heavily armed and fortified, with raised defensive emplacements placed haphazardly among the sprawling shops and homes of nonexpedition members, all dedicated to the protection of the expeditionary docks themselves. Beyond that and the facilities that the Ronin Expedition oversees directly, such as the mod-clinics, transportation routes, and warehouses and the routes between them, people are allowed to build what they want, where they want, leading to a stinking and sprawling morass of haphazardly placed structures.
The Ronin Expedition is filled with bragards, cutthroats, adventurers, and conmen, all of them eager to earn both coin and fame in the least regulated part of the world.
The Ronin Expedition's history is filled with events both fair and foul, but almost all of them have been propagandized to make the Ronin Expedition seem far more rebellious against the world order and meritocracy than it actually is.